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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Edward Coke
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(1552–1634, kt 1603) Parliamentarian and lawyer. As attorney-general (from 1594) he was a ferocious prosecutor on the royal behalf (in the cases of *Essex, *Raleigh and the *Gunpowder Plot conspirators) and yet at the same time he remained an implacable opponent of any attempt by the monarch to encroach on the *common law (his robust defence of which is seen as his greatest achievement). From 1613 to 1616 he was lord chief justice, the first to be so called. In his later years his determination to oppose the Stuart assertion of the *divine right of kings made him one of the leaders of the parliamentary cause, the *Petition of Right being largely his work.
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